01	Carnival Of The Animals						02:42
	02	Ebbtide						03:07
	03	Storm And Thunder						06:25
	04	In The Mountain						03:03
	05	Song Of The Marching Children						18:32
	06	Atlantis						16:22
	07	Maybe Tomorrow, Maybe Tonight						03:12
	08	Interlude						01:57
	09	Fanfare						06:06
	10	Theme From Atlantis						01:52
	11	Love, Please Close The Door						04:11

The group Earth and Fire (originally Opus Gainfull) was founded in 1968 in the Hague by the Koerts twins, Chris (vocals, guitar; ex-Swinging Strings) and Gerard (guitar and keyboards, also ex-Swinging Strings); bassist Hans Ziech (ex-Soul), drummer Cees Kalis, and Lisette on vocals.

All of them had had prior experience in music. Lisette soon became ill and had to leave the band; she was replaced by Jerney Kaagman in 1969. Kaagman had only sung in school bands prior to joining. Kalis was also replaced - by Ton van der Kleij (drums, ex-Summer) - in the following year. It was this line up of the band that supported Golden Earring on their tour. (George Kooymans landed Golden Earring their first hit in January 1970 with "Seasons".) With Chris Koerts as the principal songwriter, the band forged ahead with new original material. "Ruby is the one" and "Wild and exiting" became enormous hits in the group’s homeland. Their newfound success instantly brought so many booking requests that the band decided to turn professional. An unbreakable string of very successful hits followed with "Invitation" (71), "Storm and Thunder" (71), "Memories" (72), "Maybe Tomorrow Maybe Tonight" (73), "Love of Life" (74), "Only Time Will Tell" (75), "Thanks For The Love" (75), "What Difference Does It Make" (76) and "7, 8th Avenue" (77), as the fans noticed the group's material deviating from the hard-edged progressive rock sound towards mainstream 70s pop.

The band’s early hit singles were distinguished by the heavy use of mellotron, and they are generally considered to be the best of the bunch in Holland, and abroad. With later LPs, Earth and Fire lost some of their charm, compared to the earlier days, by sounding increasingly more poppy, mainstream, and pretentious, thus gradually losing most of their popularity towards 1977. However, through the years, the band evolved, rather than lost its identity.

And then there were no more hits… In 1978, drummer Van der Kleij was the first to leave, followed shortly by bassist Theo Hurts. They were replaced by Appie Tamboer and ex-Focus bassist Bert Ruiter (Jerney's new boyfriend) respectively. The band didn’t play live much anymore, at the end of the 70s, and the demos for the new album were rejected by Jaap Eggermont, their producer. Earth and Fire then proceeded to switch their record labels from Polydor to Vertigo, with which they recorded and released 1979’s "Reality Fills Fantasy", produced by Gerrit Jan Leenders. This album, which was once deemed by Eggermont as "not having enough commercial potential", became the band’s greatest succes to date! The single, "Weekend", hit the top of the charts and stayed at No.1 for weeks, in several countries!

However, in early 1980, Chris Koerts left the band. His position was taken by Ronnie Meyes (previously with Brainbox). With him in the fold, the band recorded their significantly less successful "Andromeda Girl" (1981), but the followup, "In A State of Flux" (1982), scored fairly big! On this album, the group returned to their funkier roots. It combined punchy, concise, melodic rock with some symphonic arrangements, at last making an overdue comeback. "Twenty Four Hours", a song by Gerard Koerts, subsequently became a hit. The Spring of 1983 saw Earth and Fire reduced to a threesome. Meyes went on to join The Millionnaires, Tamboer, and Het Goede Doel.

The band finally split up at this stage, and didn’t reform until 1987, with Ton Scherpenzeel (ex-Kayak) to record the powerful and popular comeback album "Phoenix" (1989), featuring the hit single, "French Word for Love". Meanwhile, brothers Koerts released an all-instrumental new age album, "Frames" (88).

Article taken from OOR's Eerste Nederlandse Pop Encyclopedie (OOR's First Dutch Pop Encyclopedia), 10th Anniversery Edition". ISBN 90-6882-237-3


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1969 Seasons/Hazy paradise Polydor S 1335
1970 Ruby is the one/Mechanical lover 2050019
Wild and exciting/Vivid shady land 2050044
LP Earth & Fire 2441011
1971 Invitation/Song of the marching children 2050084
Storm and thunder/Lost forever 2050133
LP Song of the marching children 2925003
1972 Memories/From the end till the beginning 2050179
LP Superstarshine vol.2 2419029
1973 Maybe tomorrow maybe tonight/Theme from Atlantis
2050242
LP Atlantis 2925013
1974 Love of life/Tuffy the cat 2050322
2LP Another time Warner Brothers 2WS 2798
1975 Only time will tell/ Polydor 2050359
Thanks for the love/Excerpt from To the world of future
2050376
LP To the world of future 2925033
LP The best 2491004
1976 What a difference does it make pt.1/Pt.2 2050411
LP The story of Earth & Fire 2925044
1977 Seven, Eighth Avenue/Dizzy raptures 2050498
LP Gate to infinity 2925065
1979 LP Reality Fills Fantasy
1981 LP In A State of Flux
1982 LP Andromeda Girl
1989 LP Phoenix
1989 French Word for Love(?)--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

LYSETT
She was the first singer in Earth & Fire in 1968.

It's the little things/I know



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Submitted by: Adri Verhoef (a3@a3.xs4all.nl)
Article translated by: Louis Rentrop (uriahboz@zeelandnet.nl)




Earth And Fire [Netherlands]
Earth & Fire (69), Songs of Marching Children (71), Atlantis (73), To the World of the Future (75), Reality Fills Fantasy (79), Andromeda Girl (81), In a State of Flux (82), Phoenix (83)

Song of the Marching Children is a good King Crimson-influenced Dutch progressive with a big mellotron sound. Led by the Koerts brothers: Chris (guitars) and Gerard (keyboard) and fronted by singer Jerney Kaagman, who vocally resembles Annie Haslam as an alto. Only more powerful--I gather Bjork from the Sugarcubes must have at least heard one Earth And Fire record in her time. :) Some of the shorter songs are pop-prog not unlike Kayak did in their later days, like the (apparently) big European hit "Memories" which leads off the album. The B-side features the 17-minute title track, with some really grand dynamics. The last section (in 5/4) "borrows" from King Crimson's "The Devil's Triangle." My favourite tune: "Storm And Thunder," which starts off with cathedral-like organ, then gradually builds to a lush mellotron climax. To The World Of The Future finds the pop stuff ever poppier, but the progressive stuff getting undescribably weird. The eleven-and-a-half minute title song features seemingly random synth noises, a chanting choir a la Atom Heart Mother, and a delicious Chris Koerts guitar solo. "Voice from yonder" features a voice recorded at a seance within some of the instrumental sections. But this album is very accessible beyond all this gimmicry, "Circus" features powerful Kaagman vocals, and "The Last Seagull" is a pleasant instrumental. The first half of Gate To Infinity is apparently some kind of suite, having something to do with ancient Egypt. "A Princess In Egypt" has more of the chanted vocals that recall "To The World...." "The Joyous Untruth" is a bouncy, guitar-propelled instrumental which sounds not unlike Focus. "Infinity" is a spacy instrumental with an electronically distorted speaking voice near the beginning and a tape-collage/freakout at the end; again reminding of something from To The World.... The side is bookended by the same song with different titles and lyrics. Kaagman's voice is becoming slicker, more pop-soul orientated. The B-side is mostly bland, ABBA-influenced pop music. Unfortunately, that's the direction they would take for subsequent albums. -- Mike Ohman

I think To the World of the Future is the best Earth and Fire album with extensive use of ARP synthesizers besides Hohner clavinet and Fender Rhodes; impressive guitar solo's against massive organ and mellotron walls; the voice of Jerney Kaagman, but not only hers.... -- R. Ton

One of the great Dutch bands that created a very lush progressive in the early seventies with a very distinctive and facsinating female vocalist. All have been just released on Japanese CD and albums like Atlantis show why these guys were ahead of their field. Compare to Sandrose, Analogy or Edge.

Their female vocalist, Jerny Kaagman, has a husky tenor that I just love. The band started out more in the psych vein with progressive overtones, but later came a more developed symphonic style derivative of no one. Organ, mellotron, and guitar are used along with Kaagman's haunting voice to create an atmospheric style of symphonic progressive. One of the essential listens from the Netherlands.






Earth and Fire - "Earth and Fire" (1970) Earth and Fire were one of the leading Dutch progressive rock groups and my personal fave among progressive rock bands with female singers. They had a powerful sound and their strong compositions were always based in inspired and highly memorable melodies. Their debut-album is progressive rock in a less symphonic and slightly rougher vein than later albums. Some of the tracks ("Wild and Exciting" and "Love Quiver") even borders on heavy progressive. There was no Mellotron in their sound yet, but Gerard Koerts' (brother of guitarist Chris Koerts) excellent use of flute, organ and vibes took well care of the band's progressive sound already in this state of their career. "Earth and Fire" is a classic debut with just good tracks. "Vivid Shady Land" and "21st Century Land" are both catchy and energetic tracks with great harmonies and progressive breaks in the middle with beautifully atmospheric flute and organ. Their harmonies also come to the fore on the ballad "You Know the Way". But the possibly most beautiful and most atmospheric moment on the whole album is the acoustic and flute-dominated "What's Your Name". "Ruby is the One" is on the other hand more of a kick-ass pop song and was not very surprisingly released as one of the singles from the album. Most of the signature sound of Earth and Fire is clear already here, even if their sound would become much more symphonic with the next releases.


Earth and Fire - "Song of the Marching Children" (1972) Their second album was probably their definitive masterpiece in my opinion. The sound from the debut-album had became softer, more polished and much more symphonic as the band now had introduced Mellotron to their sound. And they used it VERY well, especially on the 20-minute title-track on side 2. This was their first attempt at long-scale compositions and remains a classic among 20-minute progressive rock songs. The melodies and themes are extremely strong and the very mighty and powerful Mellotron-arrangement along with the organ, tasty synths and their vocal-harmonies with the distinctive female-voice of Jerney Kaagman in front makes this a truly delightful listen. Side 1 consists of 4 shorter tracks, but of the same high quality. "Ebbtide" sounds like one of the softer and atmospheric tracks from the debut, while the instrumental "In the Mountain" may revealed that they had been listening a bit to their countrymen in Focus. "Carnaval of the Animals" and "Storm and Thunder" were on the other hand more in their new symphonic style. The latter starts with some powerful organ before the Mellotron joins in and Kaagman starts to sing the atmospheric lyrics and then the harpsichord also starts. The track gets gradually more dramatic as the lyrics do the same. The whole album is perfect and completely flawless and probably the very first Dutch symphonic progressive rock album you should check out. It's a true masterpiece, high up there with "Close to the Edge", "Thick as a Brick", "Ys", "Foxtrot" and all the other progressive rock classics from the same year


Earth and Fire - "Atlantis" (1973) The third Earth and Fire album and the third classic in a row. "Atlantis" continued the symphonic progressive rock style of the previous album. The title-track was another side-long suite, but obviously pieced together from far more bits, parts and different ideas than "Song of the Marching Children". But it still hangs very well together, and the songwriting is just as strong as we now could expect from the band. The Mellotron is always present the whole way through, but a little bit more toned down and better integrated along with the other instruments than on "Song of the Marching Children". Side 2 is what makes the album in my opinion a tad weaker than the previous one. Most because of the poppy "Maybe Tomorrow, Maybe Tonight" (that was also the title of a German pressing of the album that had side 1 and 2 exchanged) and the ballad "Love, Please Close the Door". Both these tracks are good, but compared to their best stuff they just don't quite hold up. But most of the rest of side 2 is taken up by the excellent "Fanfare". This is a melodic symphonic track in the vein of "Storm and Thunder". One of the themes from the title-track is also repeated, giving the album a kind of a concept-album feel. I think this is the Earth and Fire album to get after you've got "Song of the Marching Children".